More families are needed The council wants to recruit more carers like award winner Amleset Araya, left, who can offer homes to children aged three and over. To find out more call 0800 279 9850 or visit... www.fosteringandadoption.co.uk Free bus journeys The Freedom Pass for older people allows free travel across London and free local bus journeys nationally. www.freedompass.org News News in brief Foster carers honoured on a night of special tributes BY IAN READ THE amazing work and achievements of Tower Hamlets’ foster carers has been recognised at an awards ceremony. Fourteen special awards were presented at the council’s annual Foster Carer Awards night held on March 27. Among them was the award for outstanding dedication to caring for a young mother and her baby, which was won by Valerie Bleau. A foster carer for three years, Miss Bleau gave up her job when a teenager she used to foster gave birth. The young woman had officially left her care, but was struggling to look after the baby so Miss Bleau stepped in and cared for him full-time for ten months. Miss Bleau, who has three grown-up children of her own, said: “It was very challenging. I’m in my 50s, so for me to go back to that was hard. “But we have got to meet his needs; he’s a baby, he doesn’t know what’s going on. “He’s a lovely little boy, he’s healthy and it’s a joy to look at him and think ‘me and your mother have got you to this point and now we just need to find someone for you to live with’. I’m sure Tower Hamlets Council will put him with the right people. “I enjoyed it but there were ups and downs. At times I thought it was too much but I had to do it for my foster girl.” On winning the award, she said: “It was nice that someone thought of all the hard work we put in. For me what I was doing was natural. It’s nice to be appreciated.” James Harvey and Russell Gibbs collected the award for outstanding commitment to fostering by newly-approved carers. The couple have just completed their first year as foster carers and are looking after a boy who was eight when he joined them. They hope he will stay with them until he is 21. Mr Gibbs said: “As a same-sex couple we were a little bit wary. We looked into it many years ago and there was a stigma attached to same-sex couples, but everyone’s been great. “To get the award means so much. To show how appreciated and accepted we are means that little bit more.” The awards were presented by Robert McCulloch-Graham, the council’s director for education, social care and wellbeing. Other awards winners Veronica Graham – outstanding dedication to caring for a teenager. Hayat Brhan – outstanding dedication to caring for siblings. Sajida and Ashraf Lunat – outstanding dedication to caring for a child with special needs. Rehana Hannan –outstanding dedication by a ‘family and friends’ carer to the child in placement. Amleset Araya – outstanding continuing commitment to care for a young person over 18. Jackie and Kevin Millsout – outstanding contribution of sensitively supporting a child in a cross-cultural placement. Sahra Hussein – outstanding commitment by a foster carer to move a child on successfully and thoughtfully. Pam Oscar – outstanding contribution to the long-term care of a foster child. Mina Khanom – outstanding commitment and flexibility in providing emergency placements. Jamilla and Yusuf Dana and family –outstanding dedication of a foster family to fostering. Donna J a k o b s e n a n d Santiago Kamara – outstanding contribution to bring about positive outcomes in a child’s life. Gertrude Tummings – special award for winning the Foster Talk national award for caring for children with disabilities. Freedom Passes FREEDOM Pass holders who were unable to renew their passes in time for the March 31 deadline have been reassured their passes will still be accepted for a few more weeks. More than 770,000 pass holders should now have their new passes, but if your pass expired on March 31, call 0300 3301433 or go to www.freedompass.org and renew as soon as possible. Night bus boost TRANSPORT for London has increased the frequency of the N15 night bus. The route, which runs through Limehouse, Aldgate, and Tower Hill, will see weekend night frequency increase from every ten minutes to every seven to eight minutes and week nights from every 15 minutes to every ten minutes. Valerie Bleau with the council’s director of education, social care & wellbeing, Robert McCulloch-Graham James Harvey Charity donation is just sweet music VICTORIA Park Singers raised more than £1,800 for charities at a spring concert at St John of Jersualem church. The money will be equally split between the national charity WaterAidUK and the arts charity Ingeenium, both of which have strong support among the choir’s members. More than 300 people packed the Hackney church to hear the choir perform a range of music from Handel to Sondheim. Since they started two years ago, concerts have raised more than £8,000 for good causes. The choir has a waiting list for women singers but are always on the lookout for men to join. The next rehearsal is at 6.45pm on Wednesday, April 22 at the Royal Inn on the Park. 13 – 19 APRIL 2015 N E W S F R OM TOWER HAMLETS COUNCIL AND YOUR COMMUNITY 9
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